Kifl Hares village Profile

Transcription

1 Kifl Hares village Profile Location of village:25 km south of Nablus. North of Salfit and Ramallah: If I could fly from Kifl Haris, I would reach England before I reached Nablus, 25 km away, Fathi Hussein Bouzia. The journey to Nablus should take around 20 to 30 minutes, but nowadays it is very difficult and can take one to five hours, depending on the situation at Huwarra checkpoint. It used to take 5 minutes to drive from Kifl Haris to Salfit, which is 5 km away taking the old Salfit road, which is now forbidden to villagers as it passes by the settlement of Ari el. Since 2000 villagers are forced to take the road via Yasouf, a distance of 30 km and the journey takes around one hour. >Current population, previous population. How many villagers are living outside Palestine? In 1940 the village had only 373 people living in it but this has now increased to over 4,000. Origins of the name. Any ancient sites or legends associated with the village? Kifl Haris was a Canaanite village thousands of years ago and used to be called Tamnit Haris and before that Tamnit Sara which means a piece of the sun. The name changed from Tamnit to Kifl after the death of the prophet Kalib bin Yaffna, who died and was buried in the village. Kalib bin Yaffna is mentioned in the holy texts of all three monotheistic religions of the region and is known as Kifl in the Koran. As the people of the village say, the prophets were sent by God for all peoples. Another prophet, called Yosha

2 (known as Joshua in the Bible) also died and was buried in the village. Their tombs are still regularly visited and honoured by people of the three faiths (although this has been curtailed due to the continual Israeli closures of Palestinian villages and towns). During the time of King Barqoq, a Mameluke, a mosque was built and is dated to All the family names of the village have an ancient heritage and descend from the prophets Abraham and Ishmael who belong to all the three religions. These names include:- Jacob, Kaneen, Bouzeiah, Brahim, Saliyeh and Obeid. Main forms of employment, currently and before intifada. Before the intifada, most of them were employed in Israel or in the settlements. Now there is around 70% unemployment. 90% of the families own land around the village, from which they can earn around US$1,000 to $4,000, depending on how much they own. Agriculture is seasonal work and they need additional work. Some families are dependent on humanitarian aid from the Red Cross or other humanitarian organizations. Any traditional industries apart from farming? No Agriculture. What crops do they grow? Any animals? How has this changed over the years? 80% of the land is used to grow olives. 10% is planted with wheat, lentils, barley that they use themselves. They currently have a problem marketing the olive oil they produce. There are very few animals, some people have a few sheep. Form of government, e.g. village council, municipality. Appointed or elected. If elected, when were the last elections? If appointed, does each family have a representative? Municipality. At the moment families send representatives to the municipality, the number depending on the size of the family. There are currently 13 representatives in the municipality. Their first elections are to be held on August 29 th, 2004.

3 Political, religious and civic organizations e.g. mosques, women s organizations. There are 3 mosques, a youth club, children s club, and they are in the process of organizing a women s club with a women s centre and kindergarten. Names of the families living in the village in order of size. Bouzia, Saleh,Abu Yacoub, Obeid, Al Qaq, Abu Hamad, Sha qur, Shaqnoor, Quishawi Services: Any schools or clinics? How many shops? Nearest hospital, nearest university. There are 4 schools, 2 girls schools and 2 boys schools. Each has classes from Grades 1 to 6, and from 7 to matriculation. There are 3 clinics. One is a government clinic and one Red Crescent, and the other a private clinic. The government and Red Crescent clinics open from 8 am to 2 pm, with a doctor attending two days per week plus a one-day doctor presence for women. The private clinic is open from 8 am to 10pm. A doctor is present all day and they bring different specialists. Patients need to pay for these services. Nearest hospital is in Salfit, which is an emergency hospital. For more serious cases, they have to go to Ramallah and Nablus 90 stores in village. Utilities: Does the village have electricity, running water? When did they receive these? Other water sources. Any restrictions on their use? >Electricity since 1982 and water since Previously, houses used well water. Some houses still have well water. Transportation: what transportation services exist, transportation

4 and road closure problems. Prior to the intifada, there were buses that cost 5 shekels to Ramallah and 3 shekels to Nablus. Currently, there are private cars, shared taxis. There is a roadblock to the main road, settler highway number 5. There is a Tulkarem bus that passes on highway 5, people go to the roadblock and catch the bus from there. It costs 8 to 10 shekels to get to Ramallah. The existence of this bus route makes it easy to get to Ramallah. A shared taxi costs between 25 and 30 shekels to get to Nablus. At the beginning of the intifada, this journey would cost around 60 shekels. Housing: Village plan, problems with building permits, and history of house demolitions. The village is in Area B and there is some Area C beyond the village. They cannot build in Area C and therefore cannot expand the village. There have been few problems with permits for Area B, although it is expensive to obtain the building permit. Two houses were demolished in the first intifiada. Land: total original area, previous confiscations with areas and dates and purpose, current confiscations and how they heard about confiscations? current built up area, agricultural area remaining (best to include maps if possible). The village used to have around 10,000 dunams. They lost around 500 dunams to highway 5 built in ,000 dunams of land were lost to Ari el to the south. The land was confiscated by military order stating that it was for military purposes. Gradually the military camp became the settlement of Ari el. The villagers found out about the military orders by a notice in the newspaper. There were court cases challenging the orders. Human rights organizations were involved, but ultimately nothing changed the outcome. A strip of land, around 500 dunams, was taken for the Trans-Samaria highway, with no notice given, to widen the road. Bulldozing started but then work was stopped in 1988 around the time of peace negotiations. Last year, bulldozers arrived and ripped up olive trees along a strip of land next to highway 5. Again, no notice was given. They were told that it was for road expansion. > Settlements: when built, population? Settler roads? Any problems with settlers? Ari el was built in The villagers still use land next to Ari el and north of the road, however they have problems with settlers who have burned their olive trees, burned wheat, killed animals and in 1989 killed a 14-year old girl. The army and settlers harass the farmers during the olive harvest. Past human rights violations: killings, serious injuries, house demolitions, admin detention by army and/or settlers.

5 There have been army curfews. The soldiers stop the villagers at the roadblock and inspect their ID s. They enter the village every day, sometimes two to three times per day. See IWPS reports HD1--House demolition 10--Olive trees burnt AR26 Arrest trees belonging to four families cut in Kifl Haris across from Ari el 53--Families in Kifl Haris prevented from picking olives from trees that had been cut 86--ID's and keys taken by army 104--Army incursion into Kifl Haris 110--Kifl Haris village taken over by army and religious settlers all night. History of resistance First intifada: Around a hundred villagers were arrested. There are around 10 villagers still in prison. Three people were killed, the girl killed by settlers, and two other villagers.>/p> Second intifada: One killed. Apartheid Wall - The head of the village does not expect justice if there is a legal case against the wall. There is an Arab saying When the judge is your enemy, to whom can you take your grievance? Recent developments: Wall: Will any land be confiscated? They expect another 4,000 dunams to be lost to the wall, leaving the village with around 20% of their original land. They have not as yet received any notification. What will be the loss of income from the wall in shekels? Some families will lose all their land, and consequently all their income. Around $100,000 per year, divided among several families depending on the extent of their land. Contact numbers for village for the media:

6 Fathi Mohamed Hussein Bouzia, Head, municipality, , Name of person doing the survey: Barbara Date of Survey:May 27 th, 2004